dogs costa rica
The best food for emaciated dogs?
When my family was in Costa Rica we noticed a lot of street dogs that looked seriously in need of a meal. My sister and I mused about carrying around milkbones in our purses for them, but my dad suggested that that’s probably not the best food for an emaciated dog. I’m going back this summer for a month and was wondering if there any foods that I could carry around that would satisfy some of their nutritional needs. Preferably food made specifically for dogs or a very cheap cut of meat that people usually don’t eat. A lot of the people in the town I’ll be staying in (my host family included) can’t really afford meat, and I don’t want to be regarded as the crazy gringa giving expensive people food to street dogs.
Trip is right – by offering them food, you will only cause a situation where they will fight amongst themselves.
real help comes in the form fo spay neuter programs, and vets that go there via exchange programs to help the dogs get vet care.
Besides, if you feed an emaciated dog anything too rich, you risk throwing it into a reaction in which the body goes into a state of shock – feeding up a starving dog (or person) must be done ever so carefully, or they die. It isn’t just a matter of giving them more food – most often, abused and neglected dogs are fed Science Diet I/D which is a prescription food, and very very slowly.
But you’re sweet to want to help them.
Probably the best thing you can do is to take pictures of the dogs when you are there, and post them on a blog – so more people will be aware of their plight.
You could also get in touch with a program that takes care of them, and offer to take supplies down to their volunteers when you go – a delivery of veterinary medications or vaccines would save a lot of money for the rescue, and if you could carry something down, that would be a huge help!
Dog slides of waterfall in Costa Rica